Jacob Ogles
A judge on Tuesday denied emergency requests to extend voting in Florida.
But a coalition of social justice groups filed a lawsuit demanding the state accept ballots through March 24 to accommodate voters whose lives were disrupted by the coronavirus pandemic.
Advancement Project National Office, Dëmos, and LatinoJustice PRLDEF filed a motion Tuesday night on behalf of Dream Defenders, New Florida Majority, Organize Florida and multiple individuals demanding leeway by the state. It’s a renewed petition asking for many of the same allowances demanded earlier this week for the state to accept late-submitted votes
“Tuesday’s election was fraught with confusion, misinformation, and fear,” reads a coalition statement.
“The evidence so far is that election day turnout will be low, and thousands of voters were disenfranchised despite record numbers of voters who voted early and by mail.”
The renewed petition was filed against Gov. Ron DeSantis and Secretary of State Laurel Lee, and it asks the state to extend its vote by mail deadline for the already concluded presidential preference primary.
Among numerous disruptions caused by the COVID-19 outbreak, state university and college campuses have been closed for the spring term, with many students being sent home.
Lee called the Tuesday election a success while acknowledging obstacles faced by elections supervisors around the state. Those challenges included Palm County precincts that could not open the day of the election.
“Floridians today were met with professionalism in addressing concerns and a steady commitment to ensuring that eligible voters were able to vote,” Lee said.
With 99.8% of precincts reported, the Division of Elections reported a turnout of 30.07% for the Tuesday election. A total of 2,986,263 voted in the election.
That includes 653,974 who voted through early voting and 1,394,411 who voted by mail.
That means 937,878 voted the day of the election.
By comparison, in the 2016 presidential primary, 1,258,732 voted by mail and 869,453 voted early, while 1,961,331 voted the day of the election. Voter turnout was 46.2%.
Of course, both the Democrat and Republican presidential primaries were still contested at the time, while President Donald Trump faces only token opposition this year.
Looking only at the Democratic primary, 1,101,414 votes were cast in the 2016 Florida primary, while 1,735,574 were cast Tuesday.
The social justice groups filed an emergency petition in advance of the elections but U.S. District Judge Robert Hinkle denied that petition while acknowledging the threat posed by the COVID-19 outbreak.
Now the groups hope they can still get courts to force the state to allow voters to request vote-by-mail ballots through March 24. Florida law requires ballots be delivered to elections offices by the close of polls the day of an election in order to count, and for vote-by-mail ballots to be requested before the day of the election.
The group also wants to allow votes to be received by elections office by email or fax using systems already in place for military and overseas voters. Votes submitted legally from outside the U.S. can be counted if received by 10 days after an election, under Florida law.
The petition also asks for the ability of third-party groups to collect ballots and drop them off at vote-by-mail drop boxes.
Former Vice President Joe Biden won the Florida Democratic primary Tuesday, winning 61.94% of the vote to Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders’ 22.83%.
Trump also won the Republican primary with 93.8% of the vote to former Massachusetts Gov. Bill Weld’s 3.17%.
